Regions Regional Headquarters

Located in a historic overlay zone on a hilltop shared by the historic Knollwood Manor, this three-story office building was built as the regional corporate headquarters for AmSouth Bank. Though the owners desired a large building with sufficient presence as a bank headquarters and visibility from various distant vantage points, a sensitive design solution was required to protect the presence of the neighboring historic manor.

Through careful planning, the large building was manipulated to allow the smaller Knollwood Manor to remain the highlight of the site, while still offering the owners a building with a major presence on the nearby skyline. The south façade, where the main entrance occurs, was subdivided by rhythmically stepping back each of five bays, while the north highway-facing façade, where the drive-thru is accessed, remained more massive. The result is a structure that appropriately and animatedly responds to two distinct conditions on its main facades.

Within the building, the program is deployed to maximize the views of the Great Smoky Mountains in key executive and conference areas and to function efficiently as a bank and/or multi-tenant building. The design and detailing of the brick and precast concrete elements mediate between the large scale of the building and that of the pedestrian and convey an enduring architectural language.